GRA 3136 New Venture Creation
GRA 3136 New Venture Creation
This course is about entrepreneurship in practice. Students will gain real-life experience with New Venture Creation by working with a real startup company to develop their business plan. The students will use state of the art entrepreneurship tools, to learn how to develop and validate a business idea (value proposition), and build a viable business model around it. Lectures consist of a mix of group work to coach the project work, research based lectures, and case studies. Core themes of entrepreneurship will be discussed, such as lean startup processes, business modelling, entrepreneurial marketing and strategy, intellectual property, and venture capital. Innovation and technology hubs in the Oslo region will be mobilized to connect students and startups.
The course is also used as preparation for “gründerskolen” (the Norwegian School of Entrepreneurship, summer program).
- The course will form a basis for advanced studies in the field
- Students will be introduced to state-of-the-art knowledge and practice of entrepreneurship, including lean startups, business modelling, and scaling
- Students will get an overview and framework of start-ups, entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial organization, and governance issues in small firms
- The students will learn basic methods for how to start a business, develop and test value propositions and business models, and to make a business plan
- The students will be trained in how to present business ideas to investors and decision makers
- The students will meet and learn about various roles in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, such as venture capitalists, innovation hubs and incubators.
Through discussions of actual business ideas, their societal impact, as well as financial, intellectual, organizational and policy related challenges, the students will strengthen their capacity for critical reflection on entrepreneurship and society.
- The lean startup method for starting new ventures
- Business modelling - from value propositions to firm level strategy of startups
- Entrepreneurial strategy, marketing and management
- How to structure a business plan
- Incorporation - choosing a legal structure
- Entrepreneurship and motivation - people in the organization
- Building business plan budgets and economic forecasts
- Intellectual property issues
- Venture capital
The course is structured around the process of developing and validating business ideas and business models, related to actual startups. Course tutors will help facilitating the matching of students and startup companies early in the course, and engage in coaching the development work throughout the semester. Step by step, the core elements and assumptions of a business plan will be developed and – as far as possible – tested. The final delivery (exam) consists of a full business plan, pitched to an expert panel, and handed in as a term paper. The key challenges of the business plan will need to be backed by reference to relevant entrepreneurship research. Students are expected to participate actively, both in class discussions and in engaging with startup companies and their environments.
Please note that while attendance is not compulsory in all courses, it is the student’s own responsibility to obtain any information provided in class.
This is a course with continuous assessment (several exam components) and one final exam code. Each exam component is graded by using points on a scale from 0-100. The components will be weighted together according to the information in the course description in order to calculate the final letter grade for the examination code (course). Students who fail to participate in one/some/all exam elements will get a lower grade or may fail the course. You will find detailed information about the point system and the cut off points with reference to the letter grades when the course starts.
At resit, all exam components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course.
All courses in the Masters programme will assume that students have fulfilled the admission requirements for the programme. In addition, courses in second, third and/or fourth semester can have specific prerequisites and will assume that students have followed normal study progression. For double degree and exchange students, please note that equivalent courses are accepted.
Disclaimer
Deviations in teaching and exams may occur if external conditions or unforeseen events call for this.
| Assessments |
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Exam category: Activity Form of assessment: Presentation Weight: 30 Grouping: Group/Individual (1 - 3) Comment: Oral group presentation ("pitch") of the project. Exam code: GRA 31366 Grading scale: Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade Resit: All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course |
Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Written submission Weight: 70 Grouping: Group/Individual (1 - 3) Duration: 1 Semester(s) Comment: The term paper has to be written in a group of maximum 3 students (in special circumstances individually). Requirements will be shaped by the nature of the Start-Up and its demand, with guidance from the lecturer. Please note, a degree of primary market research and outreach is expected. Exam code: GRA 31366 Grading scale: Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade Resit: All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course |
A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 6 ECTS credits corresponds to a workload of at least 160 hours.